I've never really considered myself as being the best bodybuilder. I always try to let the people decide that. I just try to do the best I can do at whatever it is that I'm doing.

Recovery is not a gift from clinicians, but the responsibility of us all. We must become confident in our own ability to change our lives, we must give up being reliant on others doing everything for us. We must have the confidence to give up being ill so that we can start being recovered.

Most people know who I am. Then I get the people who don't know who I am and just want to take a picture with a guy with muscles. I get more people that know me than anything.

There's no secrets or magic tricks to being successful in life. It's plain and simple. Work harder than everyone else and the only way to do that is to do it. It may sound silly but it's the truth and there aint nothing to it but to do it!

One thing you can't beat in this world is time. I learnt that the hard way. You can't play basketball forever. You can't play football forever. You can't bodybuild forever. I mean you CAN do it, but not at a high level against younger guys who have more time and have not reached their peaks yet. There's only so much the body can do and once you're done, you can't go back in time.

I used to think that my career was to be a police officer, and that is what I was put here to do. But I always kept the faith and always worked hard on my goals and I finally found out on Sept. 25, 1998, why I was put here - (God) called me here to be Mr. Olympia.

It is important to have people believe in you. With this support, what you can achieve is limitless.